page_title: Renault in Formula One
section_title: Original turbo era (1980s)
hierarchical_section_title: Renault in Formula One / Engine supplier / Original turbo era (1980s)
caption_attribution_description: Williams Renault FW12, 1989, Driver Ricardo Patrese, Exhibition Sinsheim, Germany
context_page_description: The French automotive manufacturer Renault has been associated with Formula One as both constructor and engine supplier for various periods since 1977. In 1977, the company entered Formula One as a constructor, introducing the turbo engine to Formula One in its first car, the Renault RS01. In 1983, Renault began supplying engines to other teams. Although the Renault team won races and competed for world titles, it withdrew at the end of 1985. Renault continued supplying engines to other teams until 1986, then again from 1989 to 1997 and at various other times since then until the present.
  Renault returned to Formula One in 2000, when it acquired the Enstone-based Benetton Formula team. In 2002, Renault re-branded the team as Renault F1 Team and started to use Renault as their constructor name, winning both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships in 2005 and 2006.
  For the 2011 season, the team competed under the name Lotus Renault GP but retained the Renault constructor name. In 2012, the team changed their constructor name to Lotus and operated as Lotus F1 Team until the end of 2015, when they returned to the control of Renault as a works manufacturer.
context_section_description: Renault began manufacturing engines at the Viry-Châtillon factory in 1976, after closing the former Alpine competition department, which was run in conjunction with the Formula One team under the Renault Sport division. It manufactured the first turbocharged engine seen on the category, the Renault-Gordini EF1 1.5 litres V6, at a time where the naturally aspirated 3-litre engines were predominant. Initially only supplying engines to the works team, Renault began a customer programme in 1983 when it became Team Lotus' engine supplier. Mecachrome, a precision engineering company, prepared the engines for the customer teams.
  Though not competitive initially, with the recruitment of designer Gérard Ducarouge the marque gained competitiveness towards the later part of the 1983 season into 1984, with Nigel Mansell and Elio de Angelis scoring regular podiums. That year, Renault also began supplying engines to the Ligier team, which scored three points in 1984, an improvement over not being classified in the 1983 championship. Ayrton Senna joined Team Lotus in 1985 and the combination of his talent and the fast, but fuel-inefficient Lotus 97T gained eight pole positions and three wins (two to Senna, one to de Angelis), but unreliability prevented a sustained attempt at either title. The Tyrrell team started using the Renault engine from the seventh Grand Prix of the year, while Ligier gained three podiums in the Ligier JS25. In 1986, aristocrat Johnny Dumfries was chosen to be Senna's new partner at Lotus after Senna vetoed the original choice of Derek Warwick. More pole positions and two wins for the Brazilian followed with the Lotus 98T, but the car followed similar problems as its predecessor with reliability problems and poor fuel consumption. This saw to it that Lotus could not sustain a season long challenge to leading teams McLaren and Williams.
  After the 1985 season the Renault works team ended participation in Formula One, but continued as an engine supplier for Ligier, Tyrrell and Lotus. 1986 saw the introduction of the EF15B engine, which included several innovations, like static ignition and pneumatic valve return. Renault Sport stopped its engine program at the end of the year, having scored 19 pole positions and 5 Grand Prix victories with customer teams.
caption: A Williams-Renault FW12C from 1989.
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